The Influence of Task Difficulty and Participant Age on Balance Control in ASD.
Balance is weaker in autism and worsens with task load, yet it tells you nothing about social-symptom severity once age is counted.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Boudreau et al. (2015) watched kids with and without autism stand still on a force plate.
They made the balance game harder by closing eyes or standing on foam.
The team also checked if worse balance went hand-in-hand with more autism traits.
What they found
Kids with autism wobbled more, especially when the task got tough.
After counting age, balance scores did not predict autism severity.
In plain words: clumsy bodies do not equal worse social symptoms.
How this fits with other research
Martín-Díaz et al. (2026) pooled 34 studies and saw the same big balance gap.
Martín-Díaz et al. (2024) also found large deficits using the MABC-2 test, so the 2015 picture still holds.
Chang et al. (2010) looks like a contradiction: they saw both groups sway less when a visual task got harder. Their trick was using an attention-grabbing search game, not just harder stance. Attention helps balance in all kids, so the papers agree once you spot the method twist.
Why it matters
Expect poor balance in autism, but do not use it to gauge symptom severity. Add simple balance checks to intake. When you plan sessions, give external focus like a wall game or foam pad goal; it steadies the body and keeps the child engaged.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Impairments in sensorimotor integration are reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Poor control of balance in challenging balance tasks is one suggested manifestation of these impairments, and is potentially related to ASD symptom severity. Reported balance and symptom severity relationships disregard age as a potential covariate, however, despite its involvement in balance development. We tested balance control during increasingly difficult balance conditions in children with ASD and typically developing peers, and investigated relationships between balance control and diagnostic/symptom severity metrics for participants with ASD, including age as a covariate. Balance deficits in ASD were exacerbated by stance alterations, but were not related to symptom severity when age was considered. These findings support impaired balance in ASD, especially in challenging conditions, but question a link between balance and symptom severity.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2303-7